Manukyan Karina

Brook trout may become a Red Book species due to small hydropower plants

The development of small hydropower plants (HPP) may endanger some fish species, including the brook trout. WWF Armenia Head Karen Manvelyan has told ArmInfo that fish simply disappear from some rivers of Armenia, particularly, from the rivers Tsav, Marts, Akhuryan and Yeghegis. Manvelyan thinks that Armenia should toughen the control over construction of small HPPs.

Many small HPPs fail to use fish-passes, and this has a negative effect on the ichthyofauna, first of all, on the brook trout. "If the situation does not change, the brook trout will be included in the Red Book", he says.

The environmental NGOs have repeatedly criticized the small HPPs in Armenia. In particular, they have pointed at simultaneous operation of several HPPs on one river, which has a negative effect on the flora and fauna.

Some projects on construction of small HPPs have prompted mass protests in different marzes of the republic. The residents of Aragatsotn marz have recently expressed their discontent with the HPP construction in the Karbi Gorge. They claim that the small HPP will deprive them of irrigation water.